Ouch

I love that this is the point where you get to choose the way you solve them and it becomes artful. To be fair, I always have to look up the names of the different methods to remember them all.

There's different methods to solve systems of equations, and they have names!?

Yes, it's lovely: You can solve by elimination, substitution, graphing or setting equal. You get the same answer, just the steps are different, and for many systems, you can choose whichever method gives you the most jollies.

Now I'm realising I might have done all this in some form without realising what exactly I was doing 🫥 we just mugged up 'elimination' and 'substitution' for linear equations in 2 variables in middle school. Somehow it never occurred to me that these are actual methods and that there are more

Math should not be taught the way I was taught. Everything is now hitting me all at once in grade 11

Math should be taught as a lot more fun and creative subject. I was talking to a data analyst the other day, and she got very animated about how there are always many right ways to solve a problem. I was struck by the fact that the people who get into these (often very lucrative) careers in math are the people who discovered the play in math for themselves -- but why isn't everyone's teacher letting them see it?

In my experience most school teachers just want you to clear exams. It's very rare to find one with a genuine passion for their field and who kindles students' creativity

That's too bad. There are some great teachers out there, but fewer than we all wish there were.

All the teachers i had were all strict. But maybe it's actually good to a teacher acting like this